“I want to get on Oprah eventually, and we’ve been pitching The New York Times, who’s interested.”

Good news or game over?

I hear some version of this on a weekly basis from start-up founders. Sadly, most of them aren’t prepared for national media and do more harm than good with a premature (and non-strategic) jump into the spotlight. The New York Times doesn’t often do two major stories on a single company, so that first — and possibly only — appearance is what counts.

But what of lack of media attention? Indeed. There are two main media challenges:

How do you get media interest? Big media interest?

How do you ensure you’re prepared when a big opportunity presents itself?

In both cases, you chart a course and execute. In this post, I’ll show how I went from my first real TV exposure to appearing repeatedly as a guest on national TV shows. I’ll also share the exact e-mail pitch that led to a Wired feature, as well as recorded radio interviews.

Media coverage isn’t magic, and it need not depend on luck. It can be a step-by-step process…

Step 1 – Create a Reel

The time was mid-February, 2007. The 4-Hour Workweek was slated to publish on April 27th, and I had a problem: no one in television knew who I was, and I wanted to be on national TV for the launch.

The chicken-or-the-egg problem was simple: big TV doesn’t want you on until you’ve proven yourself on big TV. What to do?

I knew a few people directly involved with BALCO, and — as a sports nutrition company CEO at the time — I was in a qualified position to talk about drugs in sports. Digging into advanced excerpts of Game of Shadows (GOS), which was billed as a “drug-by-drug account” of high-level athletics, I formulated a simple and valid position: far from decreasing drug use, the book would end up serving as a how-to guide.

GOS was going to be published on March 1, 2007. The week before publication, I reached out to all local San Jose or bay area-based big networks. I called the switchboard or main number, requested “the newsroom,” and started the pitch, which was written out on paper in front of me and never lasted more than 20 seconds:

“My name is Tim Ferriss and I have a timely pitch for you. I work with professional athletes and… [establish credibility as CEO and someone with experience in drugs in sports]”

“Game of Shadows, about Barry Bonds and BALCO, comes out next week and it’s getting a lot of attention. Most of the world is viewing it as an exposé that will decrease drug use. They’re wrong. I can discuss why it will actually increase steroid and drug use.”

Most calls went to voicemail, a few people said they’d get back to me, and only one did: NBC 11 in San Jose.

But one is all it takes. The short NBC clip ended up being the social proof later needed to get me on The Today Show and others for The 4-Hour Workweek.

Remember: make it timely and controversial. “Controversial” doesn’t necessarily mean scandalous; it means a position that runs counter to the mainstream or expectations.

But does the “reel” only apply to TV?

Not at all. The same can be done for radio, which is a far easier sandbox to play in, as there are more players. I started with Lamont and Tonelli on KSJO 92.3 and a stunt for Fairtex kickboxing. I invited the hosts to a demo and encouraged their sidekick, Sully, to get in the ring and do some light sparring.

It was fun and had absolutely nothing to do with anything I’d do in media later. It didn’t matter. The producers of radio — just as in TV — simply want to know you’ll speak clearly, be entertaining, and not embarrass them. The subject matter doesn’t matter. On a higher level, they want to know: can you help design a fun segment?

I later parlayed this early radio, along with other random samples, into booking “radio satellite tours” with the help of Peter Marchese. “Radio satellite tours” entail sitting in a room with obscene quantities of coffee and doing back-to-back 10-30-minute radio interviews from 7am to 5pm with almost no space for even bathroom breaks. It’s batching at its efficient best… and punishing worst.

Here are four of my 20+ interviews, here listed in order from December 16, 2009. You’ll note that I launched the revised edition of The 4-Hour Workweek in the same week as I later launched The 4-Hour Body. It was a dress rehearsal for the big game, a dry run for understanding the dynamics and competition of the X-mas season.

Note the talking points (we’ll return to this) and examples, which I repeat ad nauseam with slightly different segues:

Step 2 – Know Your Subject: In Depth vs. Talking Points

To prepare for the NBC TV interview, I had to:

– First, visit a Borders and literally get on bended knee to beg for a copy of Game of Shadows the afternoon before release. The simple begging didn’t work. Several book chains had been shipped Harry Potter late as punishment for releasing a prior Potter before the mandated midnight release time. I finally offered, “What if I do headspins for you? I’m totally serious. Puleeeeease?” after which, I jumped into a breakdancing freeze on the floor. I’m not kidding. Pretty pathetic, but they laughed, relented, and went to the back storage room to get the book.

– Second, digest a 368-page book in one evening, which I did over espresso (limit: two singles per hour) and wine (limit one glass pinot noir per hour) at Santana Row in San Jose. Here is a one-page index from that session:

– Third, prepare main talking points and sound bites. This involved taking the above notes and observations (I had several other pages) and whittling them down to 3-6 major points I could convey in a total of 120 seconds, 20 seconds or so per point.

“Why is what I’m doing different or controversial?” (Answer: using new tools to scientifically test all of the myths and old wives’ tales on myself and others)

“Why is this timely and important?” (Answer: I’m part of a much larger trend; cite books and growth of Quantified Self, etc.)

“What are some actionable examples of counter-intuitive findings?” (Answers: 30g within 30 min of waking, replacing milk in coffee with cinnamon, etc.)

For the last group of actionable takeaways, I list them first, then number them in descending order of priority for inclusion. If these sound familiar, you’re right. They’re the same talking points I used in the above radio satellite clips.

NEVER assume you’ll get to cover everything you hope or rehearse. Media is unpredictable. I had to account for this in my recent appearance on The View, as just one example (notice we skipped over half of an entire table, as questions from Barbara required it). I didn’t get frazzled, as I had planned for this and prioritized my points, both mentally and logistically — the latter by ordering props on the tables.

Step 3 – Pitch Properly

Why is pitching step 3 instead of step 1?

Because it makes no sense to pitch until you have your prep (reel or sample clips) and basic positioning (timely and controversial angle with examples) in place.

Then, before you start spamming people with template emails, keep in mind: Thou shalt know thy media outlets. Don’t pitch the same thing — or something general — to niche outlets. It’s a waste of their time and yours. Know the magazine or program and customize.

Here is the actual pitch I used for Wired Magazine that ultimately led to the 4+-page feature entitled “Tim Ferriss Wants to Hack Your Body.” It lacks a self-intro, as I’d met this editor in person, an approach I always encourage, as e-mail is the most crowded channel.

Notice that I provide different options/ideas for different lengths:

Hi [Name],

OK, here are a few ideas. They’re in three categories:

1) Feature

2) Shorter 1-2 page piece

3) Book mention in Playlist

My preference if possible, no big surprise, would be 1, 2, and then 3. Here are the toplines:

1) Feature:

For Wired readers, being one myself and having been in the mag before, I think one of my chapters as an exclusive excerpt would be the least work for Wired and the best fit. It’s ready to go and would just need to be tightened for space. I’ve attached the latest version (sorry for the hand edits). Here are some headlines and toplines:

BLOOD HACKING: Creating the Perfect Fat-Loss Protoplasm

I implanted a medical device in my side that sampled interstitial glucose levels every 5 seconds. It’s used by cutting-edge Type 1 diabetics, but I used it to figure out which foods and meals would make me fat. I wore it 24/7 for weeks, including a trip through customs to Nicaragua. There some sweet graphics and nice how-to takeaways I can provide.

This would detail 5 or so of the coolest and craziest drugs and tools I used in my experiments over the last 3 years, ranging from the above medical device to stem cell growth factors, anabolic steroids, IGF-1, and more. I could write it or it could be a Q&A with me. Potential headlines/titles:

BECOMING SUPERHUMAN: Drugs and Gadgets to Make You a Mutant

Gadgets and Tools for Becoming Superhuman [this one would omit drugs]

BECOMING SUPERHUMAN: An Interview with Human Guinea Pig Tim Ferriss

3) Mention in Playlist — Pretty straightforward here. Just a book mention and little blurb.

Look forward to your thoughts, [name]. Wired is a great place to break this one.

Cheers,

Tim

###

Afterword: Is this type of media how-to of interest? If so, I’ll do a “Part 2” continuation of this post and talk about media training and other little-known aspects of the game. In the meantime, please find my most recent Dr. Oz clips below.

Related and Recommended

The Tim Ferriss Showis one of the most popular podcasts in the world with over 500 million downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.

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207 Replies to “From First TV to Dr. Oz – How to Get Local Media…Then National Media”

Tim collaborating with Dr Oz… Awesome. You didn’t tell him how his penis works 🙂 (For those that don’t know, I’m referencing a joke on Tim’s View appearance “telling Barbara” how her vagina works.)

Part two definitely!

How the heck did you read the book in 2 hours!?! You get dozens of books sent to you, which you don’t read, but I’m sure you knock off multiple books within a week. I amongst many other 4 hour minions want to hear your freaking OCD secrets. I see a new post on hacking speed-reading (and note-taking, but I think you’ve briefly covered that before) coming on… 🙂

Tim, very good summary of what you need to do to reach the media. I work in media relations for a living and your tips are very similar to what I preach to clients and executives. One thing you didn’t add in your post – but demonstrated exceptionally well in your interview – is the importance of speaking like a real human being, not necessarily a subject matter expert.

The media’s audience is real people, and they want to talk to folks who can put things in terms that their audience will understand. A couple of good examples were your analogy of treating drug problems with drug testing being like using a breathlyzer to treat drunk driving, and your explanation of stimulants ranging from a cup of coffee to cocaine. These are clear examples and analogies that anyone can understand. Using them effectively earns you the ideal scenario: media contacting you because you’re not only well-versed in your subject, but also a good quote.

The last point I’d offer doesn’t as much pertain to Tim’s interview because it was a longer one-on-one, but reflect the need to streamline your comments: Keep in mind that most sound bites last about 7 seconds on TV or radio, or quotes of about 20 words in print. So if you’re being interviewed for a larger pieces, most of what you say will not be included. Make sure you hammer your main point across and/or make it your most quotable point to have the best chance of it being included.

Because you are involved in visual media, you and your brand will be well-served if you wear clothes that fit you properly. Because you are athletic, this can be a problem since off-the-rack clothes and even “athletic cut” clothes won’t really fit. For example, I don’t think you can button the top button of the dress shirt you wore in your NBC interview. Bad look. You look better on Dr. Oz. If you haven’t done so already, have a tailor make you three dress shirts and a suit. They will fit you in a way you have never experienced and will advertise the effort you put into your body.

Great job on OZ! I have been recommending your findings from your book to my clients and having the association with Dr. Oz makes it even easier to share your info.

2 Quick questions..

1–.From your research,, what brand of whey protein isolate is the purest/best ??

2–How are you able to prescibe so many nutritional recommendations without being a licensed nutritionalist? Just curious because where I live(north carolina) as a trainer legally you cannot tell clients what to eat–you can make general guideline but cannot prescribe specific foods.

Interesting post….It may sound funny and irrelevant…but with your wits, I think you may be able to give me some tips….I want to act in a feature film (this is in my to-do list)….a week ago a gentleman introduced me to his close friend who can get me into both modeling and acting….but my issue is I do not know how to talk about that and ask him for it….[his friend introduced me to him so that he can help me but i just don’t know how to ask for it]…any tips?

Forget 4 hour work week this is $1million Insight. It charts a map and strategy to help create a profile based on a notable angle and storyline. Not seen that anywhere else Tim – this rocks and rolls. Looking forwards to the first 4 Hour show (every day at 4 learn more about ways to work that wow). Just and idea but and idea is where it all starts right?

I’ve been following the slow-carb diet for 5 days, today is the fifth day. I promised myself I would not get on the scale until Saturday morning, at 630AM before my binge. I broke that promise today because I just HAD to see the progress … and seriously … I WAS BLOWN AWAY. weighed myself Sunday morning the day before I started this diet 291.6lbs, this morning I weighed in at (drum roll please) 284.3lbs. that’s 7.3LBS!!!! WIN! I am psyched to think that I could lose 8lbs in the first week of this program, it blows my mind. I’ve been tracking things METICULOUSLY on the website I set up for this diet: tannerstummy.com

About the cheat day. I’m nervous. I feel guilty … I’m sure others have had this same feeling “Oh, so much progress will be ruined if I eat donuts!” but I know from reading my chapters over and over that this is necessary … is there a limit? I’m terrified of reversing progress, though I know ultimately that won’t happen, is there a caloric intake I should aim for? 3,000 or 4,000 calories on a cheat day? Could you offer some sort of guidance on this?

No need to make yourself sick on cheat day if you don’t want to. The point is to truly enjoy any and all foods that strike your fancy, so that you don’t break the diet in the following 6 days, and for the biochemical reasons. If you want to simply have one large cheat meal, or increase caloric comsumption (which is important) using quinoa and other healthier foods, that’s fine. Just don’t cheat in the 6 days that follow.

Most excellent Tim, I appreciate you taking the time to respond. For the record I lost 9lbs this first week, and you’re right about data … just 5 times and I’m hooked. I update my tracking website with every single meal, images and all.

I have searched far and near on how to get some media exposure for my development and seo business. My dream is to be featured on Inc.com…trust me I am way on my way to one day be featured there. All thanks to your book.

Thanks, Len! This guy’s been shameless. Really unfortunate what some people will resort to. If he thought it through, he’d realize this will cause far more long-term problems than it will fix short-term problems.

What temperature cold are you refering to as cold. I live in Manitoba Canada and walking in the cold here for 30 minutes is different than walking in the cold in Florida. And as for cold showers… I have well water which in the winter time here feels like knives stabbing you if you stand in the cold.

So if you could let me know what temperature of cold you refer to, I could see if I could tolerate it.

Also, I’ve been reading your book, and I am utilizing your suggestions, however, I am both Gluten Intolerant and I am Hypothyroid. I have tried every type of diet imaginable and have little to no success. Will these two health factors of mine be a problem with your diet suggestions as well? I can’t find anything mentioned in the book about either issue as yet. Thank you so much for any help or suggestions you have time to assist me with.

One thing that you should keep in mind with the two conditions you mentioned (gluten intolerance and hypothyroid), are to truly identify the mechanism for the condition and proper diagnosis.

Gluten intolerance is a fairly vague term, and could mean that you don’t feel well after eating gluten, it could be an allergy, or it could mean one of various forms of Celiac Disease.

Celiac Disease has been observed with different classifications of subphenotypes. There are four general presentations, and it is suspected that the most common is “Atypical,” meaning the symptoms are not the classic symptoms, or rather, the symptoms that you would expect.(And therfore less likely to be diagnosed)

For example, “Atypical” Celiac Disease is sometimes referred to as “extraintestinal,” and may have few, or no gastrointestinal symptoms. In this case, symptoms may manifest as thyroid disease, skin problems, systemic auto-immune disorders etc.

With this in mind, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is the most common cause of Hypothyroid function, and should be approached differently than simple thyroid hypo-functioning that is not auto-immune in nature.

The two may actually be related, and there may be some very functional and restorative steps you can take to improve your situation if you correctly identify the mechanism behind the problem.

The typical thyroid panels may not fully identify the problem, as is the case with testing for Celiac Disease. Be sure to work with someone who has a good working knowledge in “functional” medicine.

Wow, Tim… this is such valuable information, thank you for being so generous. I am currently working on my PR for my first book, and have struggled with clearly defining the approach I need to take with what often appears overwhelming.

Really enjoyed this post and also some of the great feedback in the comments both from you and some of the comment posters out there, a lot of food for thought.

This info comes at a very interesting time for me because just before Christmas I started a publicity campaign aimed at primarily blogs. It was inspired by seeing someone else who is in a very similar field to me getting a lot of publicity on various websites. Well I figured it they are into that maybe they’d like this. So I tracked and made a list of all the possible sites, then I targeted my pitch to these with some great success, some of these posted interviews and others short features. I’m not going to tell what field or what it was all about but suffice it to say that this approach worked, the blogs led to a feature on one of the major tech websites and that led to a bunch of other sites. Needless to say the online traffic rolled in but I am fining it hard to see how to bring this to the next level, in other words how to convert this online publicity into offline publicity? Once the surge in traffic and interest has died down, how is it possible to reignite the flame of interest or better still keep it alight and turn it into column inches or TV minutes? I did get one feature in a Brazilian newspaper but beyond that very little off line media yet and I find that on the internet news stories get old very fast, after 1 or 2 weeks they get easily forgotten and the next bunch of fads or trends rolls in. I guess what I’m saying in a round about way is that I don’t want it to be a fad but maybe that’s another story.

Your post goes someway towards answering some of these questions but I would love to see a part 2 to flesh out some of these self generated and directed publicity methods a bit more.

I just finished getting two very small interviews done for local media (college TV show and an international marathon newsletter) about my blog/website and I’m hoping to leverage them to get more on a grander scale. I still have a few things to do with my site before I take this to the next level, but this post really helped me figure out what to do next.

I’d love to see a pt 2 to this so I can be better prepared for what comes next for me.

Definitely helpful to those who wants or waiting for a break. I say this as the map towards being famous. Nowadays nothing more helpful than internet, however I guess you have to do more than walking on fire barefooted. Increasing population in the world means increased number of competitors.

I am a fifty-five-year-old, out-of-shape female. Even though I bought your book on my Kindle (yes, I wish I had bought the actual book, in this case), I am having trouble sorting out a few things for the kettlebell swing.

Here are my questions:

1) What pound weight should I start with?

2) Should I do sets? How many? With how many repetitions? How do I begin? What should I be building towards?

Hi, Need some help. Threw myself into the program 8 days ago. Eating only protein, beans, veggies, no cheating. Breakfast 2 eggs, cherry tomatoes, maybe some leftover beans. Breakfast, leftover rotisserie chicken, steak, or pork and beans with onions/mushrooms, salad. Dinner, again, a meat, veggie, beans with tomotoes or onions, etc. Also throw jalapenos in and lots of spices, love to cook. Two glasses red wine every night. Did Kettle bells twice (75 swings) one kickbox class, one spin class. Went into cheat day same weight, which seems bizarre in that even if I was only doing calories/in/out I had eaten less. Also, seem to be bloated with a little ‘pooch’. Starting weight: 125. No inches lost but didn’t expect it this soon anyway. very down with Tim’s philosophy; I’m a published author of fiction and taught myself the pub. business to get there. Also a psychotherapist and started my own practice. ONLY possible thoughts are: 1tbs of lite cream in coffee twice a day and one time put a touch of splenda on a 1/4 cup cottage cheese with a lunch. cheat day, reg. breakfast, 1 hr later grapefruit juice, coffe, coffee roll from Dunkin. 3 hrs later, grapefruit juice, vitamin water with lemon squeezed in, 2 slices pizza. Dinner: super bowl sunday, grapefruit juice, grazing on all kinds of crap but didn’t even have planned tequila shots because coming down with a cold. Did air sqauts before and after. Getting discouraged after hearing all the first week weight loss stories. Can anyone help? thanks

Hi Tim! I like your statement regarding “Media coverage isn’t magic, and it need not depend on luck. It can be a step-by-step process…” and the steps that you have introduced is very much relevant. Anyone who wants to get caught of the camera lens and get famous should read this.

I’ve been following your the Slow-Carb Diet for 3 weeks now and have had no results. What’s strange about it is that I’ve calculated all the calories associated with each meal and remained, at least, 1000 calories under my 4961 calorie per day max. I’ve cut all dairy products, white stuff, sugar and grains with the exception of some 97% fat free popcorn our of my diet.

Could my age have something to do with it? I’m 47 and I notice the older I get the fatter I become and the harder it is to take the weight off. I’m 6? 6? and 365lbs. My lean body mass is 265lbs so I’m carrying 100 lbs of fat. The only way that I’ve ever been able to loos the fat is by starving myself. If I go under 1000 calories per day, I’ll loose the fat, but that always ends in a binge which brings me back to where I was prior to starving myself.

This is the very first time I read the blog of Tim Ferriss. I must say, he’s one of the smartest bloggers I’ve ever encountered. He’s so good in organizing his thoughts and i deas. I learned a lot from him and his postings are senseble enough for all the readers.

I’ve been following the diet for 3 weeks now, and I’ve … gained weight! About 5 pounds (I started at 125 pounds and am 5’4.) I usually have peas, beans and turkey/egg for breakfast, mexican food for lunch (with no rice, tortilla nor cheese), and about the same thing for dinner. I snack on almonds (just a handful of them), and exercise at least 3 times a week. For my cheat day, I have bread in the morning, some ice cream in the afternoon, and pizza for dinner. Never really went crazy.

I wouldn’t mind the weight gain if I could associate eat to muscle gain, but it’s not the case: I can definitively tell I’m getting heavier ….

Just picked up the book today. Good read for the most part. Love the humor. Dude! Seriously?…, if you want to be taken seriously and get on serious shows like Oprah, you need to leave out the vulgarity. Using expletives in your book on nearly every page doesn’t sit well with the majority of readers. It makes you sound unintelligent and you’re clearly not. Butt and glutes are all appropriate substitutes for ass. Not to mention the “F” word and “S” word have no place in literature of this type. Unless you only wrote this book to be read by your 25 year old drinking buddies, I would seriously consider cleaning up the potty mouth (at least in print). Can’t believe the editor didn’t suggest that one. You could go far with this concept and a cleaner mouth. C’mon, you’re smarter that to stoop to cheap language. Rise above, my friend.

Hey, just wondering if anyone else has been developing cartilage issues while on the diet. Obviously it may be pre-existing that just manifested itself during the diet, but these issues did seem to follow fairly closely.

Jan 8. started slow-carb

Early Feb cartilage displacement in knuckles as if hand hardening. I do kickbox, but you shouldn’t experience hand hardening with boxing gloves on.

Also noticed increase frequency of knee pain/tightness in early Feb.

This morning, pain in lower ribs, appears to be costochondral separation of 9th rib. pain goes away if i push the rib back into place (~1/2″).

I think there’s a mention in one of the Dr. Oz videos of something to significantly help knee issues and wondered if that would apply to the rib healing/stopping the knuckle cartilage displacement.

Great stuff, but where’s the crown jewel, part 2? How to prepare and take advantage of that national television appearance?

I filmed an appearance on a TV show that has 4-5 million viewers and it’s finally (fingers crossed and the TV gods willing) going to air THIS Friday (Mar 2, 2012). They’ve been saying this for a while, but it looks like it might actually happen.

So the question is, how does one take full advantage of this opportunity once the show airs? I’ve mindmapped what to do, but I’d appreciate your thoughts on what actions to take when exposing yourself to the MILLIONS OF VIEWERS (like server load, press release, etc) and what kind of lessons learned and mistakes you made.

Tim, you are the master of creating hype and controversy! I have also read your 4 hour body book, and was amazed to see how many reviews it has on amazon (good and bad), and it just proves that you really know how to drum up attention.

Very interesting to see how you structured your media ‘attack’, you obviously did some hardcore work to make this happen. Chicken or the egg no more – you’ve become ‘The Rooster’!

Thank you so much for this, Tim. I understand steps 1 and 2, but how do you then turn the local TV attention into national TV attention using your reel? I ask because a) step 3 has to do with pitching to a magazine (not national TV) and b) step 3 doesn’t reference your reel. Sorry if I’m missing something obvious. Thanks again.

Already thought of a kind of controversial way of pitching my product. (new paper magazine when the biggest publisher here in Holland just fired 1/3 of its staff and titels) but this would work so much better with the extra time invested in “looking like an expert”

This type of post is just the kind of stuff I’m looking for and highly interested in. As someone on the seminar circuit teaching internal martial arts, I’m really trying to raise the public’s level of awareness about what we have to offer and media attention is one key aspect of that. I’ve been on local tv before, but I had help, so learning how to recreate that opportunity with success and regularity would be a vital skill.

Co-founder of Adaptagenix? Was Adaptagenix Applied Bioscience the parent or holding company for BrainQUICKEN and BodyQUICKEN and then you formed a new subsidiary company for each product? If so, that’s “22 Immutable Laws” right there.

So Tim, did you form the parent/holding of AAB in case you ever released or created new products, or were there other reasons?